We've seen how unwilling the Dems are to reduce our massive deficit and debt by even a single percentage point. Hopefully people remember this in 2012, when the problem is that much more massive and the Dems claim that they can and will "fix" it.They have no interest in strengthening our economy (or even allowing it survive).

It was very significant that Obama promised to veto the House bill that would have funded the Defense Department through September (end of fiscal year). The Democrats need hostages. Nobody cares if the Department of Education shuts down. The Social Security checks go out and the IRS shuts down. What's not to like ?

The military is one of those non-essential functions to Obama. Except for political rhetoric.

Obama promised to cut the deficit in HALF by the end of his first term. He promised to cut "two trillion". Instead, he and his democrats have done nothing but follow Paul Krugman's Keynesian orders. Obama and his democrats have added trillions upon trillions to our deficit. We've never been in the "trillions" until the democrats gained total control. Democrats are not serious about cutting spending. They want to spend more, until we are broken.

We are watching Obama/Soros use any means necessary to destroy the dollar so that they can get away with switching to the new world currency and thus destroy the American Military's funding. Therefore more Debt is needed and not less in the Soros plans. He is using Obama to occupy the American executive position that could fight back. Its a war. So we may need Trump to call the shots to save American interests.

"Clean air and a woman's uterus".This is great, the Libs have lately been proven dishonest and incompetent on every possible front, from Gitmo/Iraq to the Global Warming scam, and now they're reduced to using the same slogans and scare tactics they were using during the Reagan era.Keep it coming, shitbirds, the country is on to your methods and nobody is buying it anymore.

"A govt shutdown is like a bum saying he is on vacation. How could you tell?"

The same way you could tell when the government was shut down in 1995: the media will be shrieking hysterically that women, children and the elderly are dying in the streets 24/7 until the shutdown ends.

The MSM will scour the Earth to find people affected, however mildly, and when found even their mildest inconveniences will be positioned as national tragedies.

@chickelitThe two obstacles that would force a government shutdown are riders on Planned Parenthood and the EPA. If you think the obstacles are Andrew Sullivan and Sarah Palin, and the price of crude oil you're beyond hope.

The concentration of eugenics facilities in mostly minority communities like DC is the sine qua non of Progressivism. If they were somehow unable to abort the thousands of African-Americans they eliminate each year, that would be far worse to them than any shutdown.

Here in CA, as minor cuts are being forced upon the government, they immediately cut the things that will piss people off most. Right now it's closing public restrooms at parks and beaches, like that's the problem with a $20 billion deficit. Games will be played and I hope people have seen it enough now to know it's B.S.

""There was a reason why Republicans were sent to the House.""Reason?? Voting is not reasonable. It's a show of...paws. At times the majority of baboons win. Other times it's chimps. Then, orangutans. Sometimes, apes.

It's the flip-side of them bellyaching about all Republicans being hyper-rich oligarchs living in the lap of luxury on the backs of the poor (who I guess would BE the yokels, hillbillies, etc).They don't care which simple-minded stereotype they use, so long as they can somehow marginalize the GOP.For people who haven't had a new idea in generations, they really are a laugh a minute.

Ridiculous comment even to the most minimally observant and seldomly visited readers here. That's the sort of thing you spew most of the time, in between comments of stark lucidity, but that doesn't represent the majority of commentors here.

I'm still trying to understand:-Why wanting to cut a program during a budget battle is ideology but wanting to save it during the same battle isn't-Why the Senate not coming to an agreement with the House is all a Republican problem when a budget for the entire fiscal year was possible back in fall '10 when the Dems held both Houses.-How to reconcile "We're serious about cutting the budget" but we can't seem to find a program we want to cut.-Why across the board percentage cuts are using a meat cleaver when the deficits are so large. (I would never recommend using iris scissors when doing a below the knee amputation.)

When the President says, “I do not want to see Washington politics stand in the way of America’s progress,” he always defines “progress” as his policy goals. If you favor his policies, you are for progress. If not, you are engaged in “petty politics” and “games.”

The President is arguing that those who disagree with his policies are engaged in politics. They are, he argues, motivated not by a well-intentioned difference of opinion about how to improve America, but instead by selfish motives.

According to one of the Feds I work with, during the Conference Call today when they were being told about policy, when it was mentioned that there's a fine of $5K for showing up and working *anyway*, someone was heard to say There's a fine for working? How come there's no fine for wasting time?

Anyone who cheers the Federal government shutting down is an idiot. Why you would want 800,000 people suddenly out of work is odd to say the least. Especially with the economy running the way it is now. But Republicans don't seem to think much on this subject.

But what is even more idiotic is the fact that the Planned Parenthood rider is a large part of what is holding up this process. Are you f&%$ing kidding me? NO Federal funding actually goes towards abortions anyway.

What's more 97% of services at PP go toward women's health. Why is women's health such a threat to the GOP?